Normalize volume on Windows: by hand or automatically

Last updated: 24 October 2026

On Windows, not every source plays at the same volume: in films the dialogue is quiet and the explosions are loud, an ad is sometimes louder than the video before it, and a game drowns out everything else. Windows itself evens this out only through a driver option, and only partly. AudioBalance measures loudness on your PC and keeps the sound at an even level automatically.

Why the volume jumps on Windows

Every source brings its own level. Films often have quiet dialogue and very loud effects, ads are sometimes mixed louder than the programme, and every app has its own slider. Windows passes the sound to your speakers as it comes. So you keep reaching for the volume.

What Windows offers itself

• Volume mixer: there you set each app by hand. It does not balance anything automatically. When the volume jumps within a film, it does not help.
• Loudness Equalization: an option among the enhancements of the output device. Microsoft says it keeps perceived loudness more even, but it deliberately leaves some difference. Whether you see it depends on your audio driver. Where to find it and why it is often missing: Loudness Equalization on Windows 11.
• Settings inside single apps: some players and streaming apps have their own normalization. It only works inside that one app, not in the game or the browser next to it.

Even out the volume automatically with AudioBalance

AudioBalance works between Windows audio and your speakers or headphones. It keeps measuring how loud the sound is and adjusts: loud parts get quieter, very quiet parts get gently louder. You set once how loud you want to listen. The app does the rest in the background.

• Measured to ITU-R BS.1770-4: loudness is measured right on your PC.
• Auto Level or Limit Only: Auto Level turns loud parts down and gently lifts very quiet ones. Limit Only only ever turns down.
• Light, Normal or Strong: the mode sets how tightly and how fast AudioBalance regulates.
• Custom AI models: they detect whether film, a game, music or speech is playing and adapt the regulation. They run locally, even offline.
• One path for browsers, streaming, games and music: everything that plays through the Windows default output goes through the same regulation. You do not set up apps one by one.
• Your audio stays on your PC: it is processed locally and never uploaded.

Typical cases

• Dialogue too quiet, explosions too loud: Auto Level lifts quiet passages in a controlled way and catches loud peaks. You reach for the volume less often during a film.
• Ads louder than the video: AudioBalance catches sudden level jumps before you have to correct them.
• Game, video and music one after another: when you switch between them, the level stays similar. When several apps play at once, AudioBalance regulates their combined sound, so their balance stays as it is.

How to set up AudioBalance

1. Install

   Get AudioBalance from the Microsoft Store or as a signed direct installer. Both install the same app.

2. Set it up once

   On first start the app guides you through setup. That includes VB-CABLE, donationware by VB-Audio (www.vb-cable.com). AudioBalance needs this virtual audio module for Auto Level.

3. Choose the regulation

   Pick Auto Level or Limit Only and a mode. After that AudioBalance runs in the background.

The detailed guide with help for common problems is in the quickstart (in German).

Where AudioBalance has limits

• One level for all apps together: AudioBalance regulates the combined sound of all apps, not each app on its own.
• Voice chat is not regulated: AudioBalance deliberately does not regulate voice chat such as Discord. Your teammates stay as loud as you set them.
• Exclusive mode and fixed devices: Programs that use exclusive audio mode or pick an output device themselves bypass AudioBalance.
• About 0.2 seconds of delay: That is how much later the sound arrives. Bluetooth headphones add their own delay.
• Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit: Installing needs administrator rights.

Read on

• Loudness Equalization on Windows 11Where it is, why it is often missing and what it does.
• Tools comparedAudioBalance next to FxSound, Voicemeeter, Equalizer APO and others, with sources.
• Questions and answersSetup, Discord, delay, privacy and price.
• About AudioBalanceWho builds the app and by which principles.